Illuminating means



March 9, 1943. BERG I'LLUMINATINGMEANS Filed Sept. 12, 1941 His Attorney" Patented Mar. 9, 1943 ILLUMINATING MEANS Leo F. Berg, Oak Park, 11]., assignor to Edison General Electric Appliance Company, Inc.,

ration of New York Application September 12, 1941, Serial No. 410,534

4 Claims.

ticuiarly applicable to bake ovens where it is desired to illuminate the oven when the door is open and to shut off the illumination when the door is closed, and is especially useful in electric bake ovens having a door that is held not only in its open and closed positions, but .also is arranged to be held in a partially open position for broiling so that hot gases may escape rapidly from the oven.

In the illuminating arrangements heretofore generally provided for ovens of this character, a door switch for controlling the lamp was provided. This switch energized the lamp immediately upon movement of the door from its fully closed position, and maintained the lamp lighted until the door was returned to its fully closed Position.

This arrangement possessed the disadvantage that when the door was in its partially open, broil position the lamp was lighted. In this position of the door the lamp could serve no useful purpose. Also when the oven wa cleaned and the door cocked partially open in the broil position to permit the-oven to ventilate and dry out, the lamp was energized to no useful purpose. In each case there was a waste of energy. and a reduction in the useful life of the lamp.

This invention contemplates the provision of improved illuminating means which gives illumination only when the door is opened for an inspection'of the edibles being cooked therein.

In accordance with this invention, suitable means are provided for controlling the oven lamp to turn it on only when the door has been moved beyond the broil position toward its open position, and to turn off the lamp before the door reaches the broil position in closing.

In one form of this invention, a lamp switch is provided which is controlled by means of a tension member which is connected to the door so as to be expanded and contracted as the door opens and closes. The door counterbalance spring of a suitable counter-balance mechanism may conveniently be and preferably will be used to control the lamp switch. This switch is so controlled by the expansion and contraction of the spring that the lamp is only lighted when the door has been opened sufliciently far for an inspection of the edible being cooked in the oven; the lamp will not be lighted when the door is in its cocked position for broiling or for other ventilating purposes.

For a more complete understanding. of this invention, reference should be had to the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a vertical end elevation of an electric range having an electrically heated oven provided with illuminating means arranged in accordance with this invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken through a portion of the range of Fig. 1 and illustrating the door in its fully closed position and also a suitable control switch for the oven illuminating means in its position to deenergize the illuminating means; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 2 but illustrating the. door in an open position beyond the broil posi-' tion; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view illustrating the switch illuminating control means in position to effect the energization of the illuminating means; Fig. 5 is a plan view of the switch means for controlling the'illuminating means; Fig. 6 is a vertical section taken through the switch means of Fig. 5; and Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the connections between the oven lamp and its controlling switch.

Referring to the drawing, I have shown my invention in one form as applied to an oven of an electric range. more specifically applied to such an oven provided with the counter-balance struc-- ture described and claimed in a copending application of Gregory L. Rees, Serial No. 381,693, filed March 4, 1941, and assigned to the same assignee as this invention. As there described, this range is provided with an oven compartment l0 which is closed by means of a suitable door II. The door II is hinged at. its lower edge to swing from a completely closed vertical position, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, to completely open horizontal position (not shown) for this purpose a pair of hinge brackets I! are provided on opposite sides of the oven to which the door is hinged at its lower edge by means of hinge pins l3 fastened to the door and received in apertures provided for them in the hinge brackets.

The door is provided with a suitable counterbalance structure which comprises a link I pivotally connected at its forward end to the door by means of a pin l5. This link moves upon a suitable fulcrum Ii which, as shown, is in the form of a roller mounted upon one of the hinge brackets l2. While generally two links may be used, one on each side of the oven, only one is necessary and only one is illustrated in the drawing. Attached to the rear end of the link I4 is a suitable coiled tension counter-balance spring I1. As shown, one end of this spring is provided with a loop which is anchored to a hook I! formed on the rear end of the link H, while the other end is anchored to a part I! of the frame of the range. This spring functions to bias the door toward its closed position and to counter-balance the weight of the door to prevent it from falling rapidly to its open position by reason of its gravity bias.

The counter-balance structure includes suitable indexing means for holding the door in its fully closed and open positions and also in a partially open broil position. For this purpose, the link is provided with a downwardly extending protuberance 20 provided on opposite sides with curved surfaces 20a and 20b, and further is provided with a curved hook 2| at its inner end. The surface 200 cooperates with the fulcrum Ii to yieldingly hold the door in its fully closed position, as shown in Fig. 2; the curved surface 20b functions'to cooperate with the fulcrum It to hold the door in its cocked" broil position (not shown) and the curved functions to cooperate with thejulcrum to hold the door in its fully open position, all as fully described and claimed in my above-mentioned copending application.

It will be understood that as the door is moved from its fully closed position toward its open position the spring is tensioned or expanded from its fully compressed position shown in Fig. 2; that is, the turns are separated as shown in Fig. 4. Conversely, when the door is closed the spring is contracted, that is, the turns return to their closed positions of Fig. 2.

This expansion and contraction of the turns of the spring I! is used to control the illuminating means arranged in accordance with this invention. The illuminating means comprises a suitable lamp 22, shown as an incandescent lamp,

hook 2| at the end mounted in a suitable socket 23 provided for it in one of the walls of the oven. The energization of this lamp is controlled by means of a switch 24, interposed between the lamp and a suitable electrical supply source 240, as shown. The switch 24 comprises a pair of fixed contacts 25 which are connected in series with the energizing circuit of the lamp, as shown diagrammatically in Fig. 'I. Cooperating with these contacts 25 is a bridging contact 26 which when it moves into engagement with the contacts completes the energizing circuit for the lamp, and when moved away from them breaks the energizing circuit for the lamp.

The spaced fixed contacts 25 are mounted upon a suitable electrically insulating plate 21, which is interposed between a metallic housing section 22 and an electrically insulating housing section 29, which housing sections are rigidly secured to.- gether in any suitable manner with the plate 21 sandwiched between them.

The movable bridging contact 26 is mounted within the housing section 28. This contact, as shown, is mounted upon one end of a pin-like plunger 30, from which it is suitably insulated, and which extends through an aperture provided for it in the plate 21 and into the housing section 28. The upper end of this pin carries a head 3| which bears against a closure cap I2 for the housing section 28. Within the housing section 28 is a helical compression spring 320 having its lower end bearing on the insulating plate 21 and its upper end bearing on a collar 3217 surrounding the rod 3|! and bearing against the underside of the head 3!, as shown. This spring functions to bias the bridging contact 28 into engagement with the fixed contacts 25.

The housing section 28, and hence the switch assembly, is rigidly secured to certain of the turns of the spring I! by means of a supporting bracket 33 which, as shown in Fig. 6, securely clamps the assembly to the turns.

A bracket 3|, similar to the bracket 33, is also rigidly clamped to certain of the turns of the spring 11 in spaced relation with the bracket 23. The bracket 34 engages the cap 32, as shown, and is so positioned with relation to the bracket 13 that when the spring I1 is fully compressed, as shown in Figs. 2 and 6, the cap 32 will be depressed to depress the rod 30 so as to hold the bridging contact 26 away from the contacts 25 against the force of the compression spring 32a.

However, when the turns of the spring l1 separate as the door is opened, the bracket 34 moves away from the bracket 33 so as to permit the bridging contact 26 to move toward the fixed contacts 25. As the door continues to move toward its open position the brackets 33 and 34 will eventually become separated so far apart that the bridging contact 26 can eng e the fixed contacts 25 to energize the lamp 22. The brackets are so positioned relative to each other that the lamp will not be energized until the door has been moved beyond the broil position toward its open position. Thus, when the door is in its fully closed position of Figs. 1 and 2, the switch will be opened and the lamp will be deenergized. Also the lamp will be deenergized when the door is moved from its fully closed position of these figures to a broil position (not shown) in which the link surface 20b is to the left of the fulcrum I, as viewed in Fig.'3, and engages it to hold the door in its cocked, broil position. The lamp will not be energized until thedoor has been opened to a position in advance of the broil position, as shown in Fig. 3. At approximately this position of the door, the spring I! will have been expanded to such an extent that the brackets 33 and 34 will be separated sufficiently far apart to permit the switch to close. The switch will remain closed to energize the lamp while the door is moved from its position of Fig. 3 to its fully open position and until it has been returned to this position of Fig. 3 at which time the lamp will be deenergized.

It will be observed, therefore, that the oven will be illuminated only when the door is moved to an open position for an inspection of the food within the oven,-and will not be illuminated when the door is closed, or when it is in its partially open cocked position to permit the oven to ventilate for broiling, or to be dried when it has been washed.

It will also be observed that in effect the fixed spaced contacts 25 are connected to one section of the spring I], while the bridging contact 26 is connected to another section through the cap 32 and the bracket 34. That is, the cooperating controlling elements of the switch 24 are connected to different spaced-apart turns of the pring.

It will be understood that the brackets 33 and 34 may be adjusted closer together or farther apart so as to energize and deenergize the lamp at different positions of the door. For example, they may be moved closer together to further compress the switch spring 32a and thereby require a wider opening movement of the door to energize the lamp.

While I have shown a particular embodiment of my invention, it will be understood, of course that I do not wish to be limited thereto since many modifications may be made, and I, therefore, contemplate by the appended claims to cover any such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United-States is:

1. In combination with a compartment provided with a door for closing 'said compartment, means for illuminating said compartment comprising a lamp in said compartment and an energizing circuit for said lamp, an elastic member connected to said door so as to be expanded as said door moves 'from its closed to its opened position and contracted as said door is closed, and switch means having a pair of relatively movable cooperating circuit control elements connected in said energizing circuit to control the energization of said lamp, said control elements being mounted upon said elastic member at spaced points so that relative movement is imparted to said elements in one, direction to energize said lamp when said door is opened and said spring expands, and is imparted to said elements in the other direction to deenergize said lamp when said door is closed and said spring contracts.

2. In combination with a compartment provided with a door for closing it, means for illuminating said compartment comprising an electric lamp and an energizing circuit for said lamp, a coiled tension spring connected to said door so as to elongate and compress as said door moves to its open and closed positions, and a switch for controlling the energization of said lamp having cooperating contacts connected in the said energizing circuit, and further connected to respective turns said spring so as to be operated into and out of engagement to energize and deenergize said lamp by said turns as said spring elongates and compresses.

3. In a compartment having a door movable between at least two positions, an electric lamp in said compartment and an energizing circuit for said lamp, a coiled tension spring connected to said door so as to be elongated as the door is opened and compressed as the door is closed, and switch means having cooperating controlling elements connected in said energizing circuit and to separated turns of said spring so as to be operated to lamp circuit closing positions by said turns when said spring is expanded to a predetermined extent and to lamp circuit opening positions when said spring is contracted to a predetermined extent.

4. In an oven having a door for closing it pivoted at its lower edge for movement from a substantially vertical closed position to a substantially horizontal open position, a coiled counterbalance spring attached to and movable by said door for resisting its movement to said open position and balancing its weight as it moves toward this position, indexing means cooperating with said spring to hold said door in each of said positions and also in a partially open intermediate position, an electric lamp in said oven, an energizing circuit for said lamp and a switch for controlling said lamp having relatively movable contacts connected in said energizing circuit, and further connected to respective turns of said spring so as to be operated into and out of engagement by said spring as it elongates and compresses so that when said door moves toward said open position beyond said intcrmediate position said lamp is energized and when said door is moved toward its closed position said lamp is deenergized before it reaches said intermedi ate position and remains deenergized until said door is again opened beyond said intermediate position.

LEO F. BERG. 

